North Jersey Notes: Gothic Knights, Chevonne And The Fuzz, Thank You Scientist and More!

I’m not sure what it is, but I am a sucker for music that has a taste of nostalgia attached to it. That’s the feeling that I get when I hear the music of Brooklyn’s Gothic Knights. A friend actually turned me on to them after he saw the band perform live back in April when they opened for Queensryche, minus Geoff Tate (we all know how that story turned out), at the Bergen Performing Arts Center in Englewood, NJ. I decided to give the band a listen on their ReverbNation page, reverbnation.com/gothicknights, and if new singer Nick Parisi can hit those high notes in songs like “Death From Above,” “Shadows Of Time” and “The Omen” live, more power to him. I’m not sure if Nick was the singer on the stuff I heard on ReverbNation, but as far as the music goes, damn! Power metal has returned!

Gothic Knights was originally formed way back in 1990 by guitarist John Tzantis, who started with his own vision of creating a unique brand of power metal with epic proportions. In 1994, John gained some label interests with his demo, To Hell And Back. Yes, they still called them demos back then, which led to the band’s self-titled debut release in 1996. In 1999, Gothic Knights released their Kingdom Of The Knights albums by way of Sentinel Steel Records. After four years of not releasing anything from the studio, Gothic Knights returned in 2003 and released their third release, Up From The Ashes, which really proved that the Knights were a force to be reckoned with on the scene of heavy metal. There is no denying the musicianship in this band. Joining guitarist John Tzantis and new singer Nick Parisi are guitarist Dave The Third, bassist Mario Consentino, drummer Kevin DeDario and keyboardist Jared Sloan.

Through the years, Gothic Knights made themselves a household name in NYC performing countless shows and landing support slots for national acts, as well as participating in several U.S. festivals. In the summer of 2012, the band released their latest opus, Reflections From The Other Side, which included the songs that I mentioned earlier and garnered the Gothic Knights raving reviews from the heavy metal press community. The band is currently working on new music for their follow-up release to be out sooner than later. Keep an eye out for Gothic Knights! They’ve been around for 24 years, and it doesn’t seem like they’re going to be slowing down any time soon. Check Gothic Knights out now at gothicknights.com.

NORTH JERSEY NOTES UPDATES:

The gang from Chevonne And The Fuzz has been having some fun filming a few music videos of them performing cover songs acoustically. The first video they released via YouTube was a cover of Imagine Dragons’ hit, “Radioactive.” They do an amazing rendition of it, but didn’t Within Temptation already cover it? The song is great and all, but why is everyone covering it? Take a look at the video at youtu.be/N8x6uLl2NNs or catch Chevonne And The Fuzz live at Dingbatz in Clifton, NJ next Friday night (6/6). For more on Chevonne And The Fuzz, log onto chevonneandthefuzz.com.

A huge congrats to my boys in Thank You Scientist! They just landed the main support slot for the upcoming Coheed And Cambria tour this fall. Don’t ask me how this happened, but this is a huge deal for a local band like Thank You Scientist. If you ask me, this is a perfect match too because I always felt that my bro, singer Sal Marrano’s voice was very similar to Coheed singer Claudio Sanchez. I thought this even when Sal was still singing for Hello Eden. Check out Thank You Scientist now, if you haven’t already, at thankyouscientist.net.

And finally, in some sad news for a second week in a row, my bros from Long Gone Day had to say an unexpected goodbye to bassist Scott Ryder, who passed away due to a heart attack a couple of weeks ago. Scott had become a staple to the music scene because of his live music venues like the Fireside in Denville, NJ. Most recently, Scott joined Long Gone Day in what was supposed to be just a fill-in gig, but ended up becoming a permanent member. Scott had become a huge piece to Long Gone Day’s most recent success. The scene will miss Scott Ryder and so will his brothers in Long Gone Day. R.I.P. Scott Ryder.

That’s all for now! If your band is from North Jersey, and you want some exposure, send your press kits to Arts Weekly, c/o Tim Louie P.O. Box 1140, Little Falls, NJ 07424, or you can email me at tim@theaquarian.com, where you can also let me know where you’re performing next!

Just remember….We’re all in the same boat, so every little bit of exposure counts!